


Here Comes The Sun

by PolaroidToxins



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bullying, Coming Out, Depression, Gay Will Byers, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Other, Period-Typical Homophobia, Sibling Bonding, after season 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 08:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19998586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolaroidToxins/pseuds/PolaroidToxins
Summary: Will begins his journey of coming out to his family.





	Here Comes The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> After an incident at school, Will opens up to El.

Attending a new school was weird.

Will had been going to the same school with the same people his whole life, and now he was in a new town, a new school, and surrounded by people he didn't know.

Except for El. Or Jane, as his mother constantly reminded him. Around strangers she was Jane, but at home she would always be El.

El was at the same school, but a few grades below him since she had never been to school. Will would have liked to be able to take her to class but she seemed to be doing okay. She hadn't mentioned anyone giving her a hard time at least.

Neither of them had made many new friends but that was alright. They ended up spending more time together and growing closer.

El was happy to watch him draw for hours, and her curiosity and happiness was infectious. Will always found himself grinning along with her.

The best thing, though Will wouldn't admit it, was that she didn't care so much about what was normal. She would sleep in Will's bed when they stayed up too late talking, and it wasn't weird, and if Will woke up screaming she would stroke his hair until he was calm again. Little things that most people might think of as odd, but it made them happy.

Jonathan was away at college, and Will missed him deeply even if they spoke on the phone every other day, but knowing he wasn't alone was comforting.

Even if nobody else in this town liked him he had his sister, and she was more than happy to spend time with him. It was a nice change from Hawkins. He loved his friends, but it was no secret that he was annoyed by how little time they wanted to spend with him.

After school they usually walked around, trying to map out the new town that they were still always getting turned around in. El always wanted to go in every shop and look at everything. Once they found a good spot they were going to set up their own Cerebro so they could talk to their friends without holding up the phone line. They could talk for hours.

For the most part, Will had flown under the radar to everyone else in the town. He kept to himself and usually had his face buried in a book or one of his drawings. Sadly he hadn't escaped everyone's notice though.

He was walking down the school hall with El when it happened.

Will noticed one of the more popular guys, Jack, walking down the hall towards him with a group of his friends and Will just knew that he was going to say something. He had the same look on his face that Troy always did.

Jack looked at both of them and for a moment Will worried that he was actually going to insult Eleven, something he wouldn't stand for. He knew he wasn't very intimidating but he would still stand up for his sister if he had to, magical powers or not.

"Hey fairy. Nice name tag" he smirked, continuing to walk right by them.

Will stood silently for a moment, wrapping his head around what Jack had said.

The insult was familiar, but name tag? What name t- oh no

Will reached his hand back and slid it up his back. Sure enough he immediately felt a piece of paper held there with tape.

Will ripped the paper off and in pink sparkly letters the word Fairy was written. It hurt, sure, but Will tried not to feel it, instead just crumpling the paper up.

"Mouthbreather?" El asked, glaring towards Jack

"Yeah. It's fine. Let's just go home" Will mumbled, starting to walk again.

The bike ride home was quiet, as Will tried to think about anything other than how he was once again being bullied in this new town.

Once they got home and put the bikes away he thought he would feel better, but he found that he was still feeling bad. The same bad he felt on days where he found it hard to get out of bed, the ones where El had to convince him and comfort him or else he would break down.

"I need to do homework" El said, carrying her backpack inside. She always did her work first, to get it over with. Will had to admit that he was pretty proud of her progress. She was picking up on things faster than he had when he learned them, she was just learning them later.

"Okay, I'm um, I'm gonna go to my room. Yell if you need help" Will said, a reflex by now. Joyce was still almost always working, so Will would help El with her homework.

Will almost ran upstairs, shutting his door behind himself. 

His room was about the same size as his last one, with brightly colored drawings and toys all over. The walls were a light blue and with the sun streaming in through the curtains it looked... Happy. Too happy for how Will was feeling.

Will pulled the curtains shut almost angrily, leaving the room still lit enough to see everything, but a lot more fitting for his mood. Once that was done he climbed into bed, pulling the blanket all the way over his head. He still had a tendency to hide when he got like this.

He did feel a little better with his head on the pillow, knowing he had nowhere to be and nobody to impress.

And yet, five minutes later he found himself sniffling anyway, his pillow slowly growing damp.

He still tried not to think, but it was harder not to feel.

Another five minutes passed and his cries grew louder. Loud enough that he didn't hear the door open.

He only looked up when he felt the bed dip beside him and the blanket pulled back to his shoulders, looking up to see El climbing in with him. Even though there was no hiding what he had been doing, Will wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, getting rid of his tears.

"You can cry. I don't mind" El said softly, laying close to Will and bringing her hand up to pet his hair.

And the thing was, she didn't. Will wanted to say no because it's what he would say to anyone else, but without even really thinking more tears were already coming. He moved closer so he could press his face into El's shoulder, letting out quiet sobs that he had been holding in.

He cried for a while, until his throat hurt and his eyes were puffy and bloodshot. He felt a bit more calm afterwards though.

"Better?" El asked, and Will nodded, wiping his eyes again and settling his head on the pillow so he could look at his sister.

"A little. I'm sorry" Will whispered

El's hand moved to grab his shoulder, shaking him lightly

"No. Crying is okay." She told him firmly

Will saw her purse her lips, and he stayed quiet. He didn't know what to say, or where to start.

"Fairies... Fairies are pretty" El reasoned slowly, and despite everything, Will smiled.

His mouth pulled up into a big grin, like always did when El said something nice, but misguided.

"It's not that kind of fairy" Will said, his voice still croaky from crying. "It's one of those words that mean something different when you say it to be mean" he explained.

"You don't have to tell me" El assured him, curious bit not wanting to upset Will further.

Will swallowed, thinking it over for a second before he shook his head

"It's okay" he told her "it means... they're calling me gay. Do you know what that is?"

El shook her head, which wasn't surprising considering her upbringing.

"Well... You know how Jonathan likes Nancy?" Will asked

El nodded, following so far

"Being gay is when a boy likes another boy, but in the way that Jonathan likes Nancy" Will explained

Now El was looking confused, and Will tensed, half expecting her to say it was gross, to hate it automatically.

Instead, what she said was "Is that a bad thing?"

Will shrugged "people don't like it. It's not normal. A lot of people think boys should only like girls" he said, focusing hard on not letting himself get sad again.

El was quiet for a second, nodding slowly as she processed the information.

"Do you like boys?" She asked, and Will knew that it probably wasn't a big deal to her, that she wasn't trying to give him a heart attack, but he still felt his insides flip at the question.

"I... I don't know" he whispered, gnawing at his lower lip.

"You don't know?" El asked, drawing her eyebrows together.

"I've never dated a girl, I.. I've never _wanted_ to date a girl. But if I..." Will cut himself off, his heart pounding in his chest.

"If I dated a boy people would say bad things, they would beat me up." _They would be right_. He would be exactly what they said. A fairy, a queer, a fag.

That made El stiffen, and she shook her head "I wouldn't let them" she stated, like she knew it to be a fact.

"Do you want to date a boy?" She continued

Will went quiet again, his mind fighting to just not think about this, to push it down and never talk about it. His while life he had been pushing these thoughts away, like how his eyes lingered on Mike at the pool, or how he noticed every time Steve cut his hair.

"Yes" Will finally said, another sob following the words. He was scared, and sad, but maybe also a bit relieved. This was something that had hurt him for years, and right now he wasn't hurt. 

El held him again until his cries died back down, using her own sleeve to wipe at his eyes this time.

"Well.. I'm glad. Now we can talk about boys together" El pointed out, grinning sweetly

Again, Will couldn't help but laugh, smiling back at her. 

El leaned forward and kissed his cheek "Being weird is good. If we weren't weird maybe we wouldn't have met" she pointed out, and Will nodded.

"That's true" he agreed, looking at her thoughtfully.

"I.. I love you" Will slowly told her, nervous for a whole different reason. "I'm really glad you're my sister." 

El's eyes widened, before she was grinning and suddenly Will was being pulled into a tight hug which he returned with as much enthusiasm

"I love you too. You're a really good brother, Will" El told him, keeping him wrapped in a hug.

Maybe Will could handle this after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
